Calvin baseball falls to Adrian 10-7 in MIAA Tournament

ADRIAN - The 2014 season came to an end for the Calvin baseball team Friday

Matt SchepelTroy Ellens

afternoon at Adrian in the MIAA Tournament as the Knights put up a furious last stand before falling to the host Bulldogs 10-7. With the win, Adrian clinches the MIAA Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA III Tournament which begins next week.

Running low on pitching depth, Calvin turned to lefthanded ace Cory Laster (Ludington/Ludington HS) for the second time in three days. Laster was able to give the Knights three innings but left with Calvin trailing 4-2.

Calvin fell behind 6-2 but came back with two in the fifth as senior Matt Schepel (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) singled in a run and junior Peter Cupery (Holland/Holland Christian HS) drove in another with a sacrifice fly.

Earlier in the game, Schepel belted a two-run homer that gave Calvin a 2-1 lead.

Adrian countered with single runs in the fifth and sixth and added two more in the seventh to take a 10-4 lead the but Knights would not sit down as they rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth highlighted by Schepel's second home run of the game and 19th of his career. Senior Kyle Spoelma (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS) also had a two-run RBI double in the eighth.

Adrian closer Tommy Eng came on to get the final out of the eighth inning however and then kept Calvin off the board in the ninth although Schepel and Cupery both singled with two outs, putting the tying run at the plate before Eng was able to seal down the win.

The two teams combined for 27 hits with Calvin collecting 12 and Adrian 15.

Laster took the loss to finish the season at 7-3 while Rylie Robinson was the winning pitcher for Adrian.

Schepel closed out his Calvin career in grand fashion, going 4-for-5 with two home runs and four runs batted in, bring his final season batting average to .394.

Schepel finishes his Calvin career as the school's all-time leader in total bases (298), hits (177), runs scored (134), runs batted in (130), home runs (19), doubles (33) and base on balls (108) and is tied for the all-time lead in triples (11). His final season RBI total of 38 matches his own Calvin single-season record originally set in 2008 and then matched by Nate Pocock in 2009.

"I am really proud of this team. They gave it everything that they had," said Calvin head baseball coach John Sparks. "We ran a little short in our pitching staff on the third day of this tournament but that's what tournament season brings. It was 'all hands-on-deck' today and our guys fought to the very end. This has been a special and fun group to coach."

Calvin finishes the year with an overall record of 28-16, matching the second-highest single-season win total in school history.